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Ray Caesar: Pretty Little Predators

Exhibit Preview: “Pretty Little Predators” by Ray Caesar

One of our favorite artists, the esteemed Ray Caesar has a bunch of fantastic new works for his upcoming solo show and they need to be seen. They are full of his unexpected quirks, subtle sensuousness and dashes of random surrealism – all finished in his signature smooth and beautifully designed compositions. He has been posting them on his FaceBook page along with a paragraph of lovely prose surrounding the inspiration for each piece. (Or maybe what the finished piece inspired… ) We’ve copied a few here, under each painting.

Known in the fine art world as the grandfather of digital art Caesar’s works are partly inspired by the Dutch and Flemish masters Vermeer and Jan van Eyck, as well as 18th century painter Gainsborough and French Rococo artists Watteau and Boucher. Not many people know that Caesar is also heavily inspired by Japanese culture.

“Old scars from the past are reminders of our mortality and remembrances of the continuity of the chapters of our life. Each of us is the hero in our story, collecting the wounds and memories like cherished photographs and keepsakes. Some of these wounds we hide and some are in plain sight for all to see. As time goes on, we find that it is easier to care for our own old wounds as well as care for the old wounds of those we love. As we deal with our own pain, we learn empathy for the pain of others.”

The Nature Of Gravity

“There are events, people, memories and circumstances that continue to grow, creating mass and gravity within our lives. Even a scent, a piece of art, or a color can make us gravitate to it like flies, ants and bees to a rotting flower fallen to the ground because of its own weight.

We place importance on some events, and by doing so over time, those events amass gravity and that gravity can crush all about it like a black hole in space. This law of attraction can also devour and consume us or it can be the very foundation of our world that centers us as the gravitational pull could also be the love and kindness that give structure to our lives. Perhaps we die not because we grow old but because the weight of memory becomes too much to bear.”

If you haven’t taken a gander at Ray’s website and his “About” page, take a few moments to enjoy his persona. Reading it is all-at-once – touching, humorous, sarcastic and heart warmingly honest – a very real soul resides here with empathy and sensitive gratitude.

And we are loving the new direction Ray has taken with the piece (below), titled “Compass”.

“Half a century on this little world and I have found myself lost on numerous occasions. It’s a strangle little world where one can get turned around and find one’s own faded footprints on familiar paths. I find that one eventually builds a kind of moral compass in one’s head. A strange clockwork device that runs on intuition, repetition and an inner sense of feeling. The compass is a great comfort but one also has to find where one wants to go and that is a task that takes a lifetime.”